It is known to drive a plurality of LED's by means of a bus structure such as a DMX bus structure. Thereto, each LED or groups of LED's are each driven by a driver, each driver being provided with a DMX bus interface via which it is connected to the DMX bus. A master is provided that controls the DMX bus and communicates data, such as setpoint (i.e. setpoint) data, error data, diagnostic information, etc between the master and drivers. Thereby, a modular configuration is created that allows expansion by additional drivers, while allowing to control all drivers (almost) simultaneously via the bus.
In such a configuration, each driver comprises a DMX controller, e.g. a DMX control chip, and a circuit to generate a supply current for the LED's, commonly a converter such as a switched mode converter which may comprise a variety of components such as a switched mode converter control chip, an inductance, a switch such as a power transistor, a reverse diode and possibly a current sense resistor to provide a feedback to the switched mode converter chip.
The above mentioned electrical components required for driving each LED or group of LED's results in a quite significant cost and a driver having a relatively large physical size, which may, in larger configurations where many LED's and many drivers are used, have a significant impact on a total cost and a total physical size.
It is desirable to provide a driver configuration that may have the potential to be more effective in terms of physical size and/or cost.